Police Shooting Reveals Underlying Community Concerns

Wil LaVeist

October 24, 2004|By WIL LAVEIST Daily Press

On paper, it seems as though police got this case right.

Bicycle officers approach a suspicious driver parked with the engine running. The driver accelerates forward and pins a policeman against another parked car, smashing the officer's leg. Police open fire and fatally shoot the man.

In the community, though, the preliminary verdict is mixed.

Many who live in or have ties to the East End, where Newport News police killed 22-year-old Santonio Dewayne Garrett, wonder if excessive force was used. The citywide crackdown on guns announced by Chief James Fox in September has a number of residents feeling as fearful of police as they are happy to see them targeting criminals.

I heard the inner conflicts during a recent visit to the area. Many residents declined to talk on the record because of fear but rattled off a number of concerns: Heightened police presence reduces crime but hikes the feeling of living under an occupied force. Lots of innocent people carry guns for protection and worry they'll be locked up like thugs. The bicycle team acts like an attack force, sneaking up on people and stopping the innocent without just cause.

"The problem people have is that they're walking down the street minding their business and the cops stop them and ask a lot of questions," said Queenie Thomas, an advocate who actually works closely with police and has lobbied for an increased presence. "If you're in the area where they are checking, they probably will stop you. That's why people don't want to speak up. People are afraid."

The Rev. Marcellus Harris Jr. said he's concerned that there's a pattern. The Newport News pastor was highly vocal during the Andrea Reedy case, when Hampton police gunned down the female driver under similar circumstances. Harris said real criminals should be targeted; however, confrontations between police and black people too often end in death.

"It's a perplexity," he said. "We want in our community the same types of protections and assurances that anybody else expects. Police tend to treat everybody as worst-case scenarios. They don't seem to understand how to differentiate the culprits from the victims."

Garrett was wanted in Hampton on cocaine distribution charges. Police said they found two handguns in the car and suspected drugs on him. However, did police know this when they approached him? The injured officer is recovering in the hospital. That's great news, but people also dread the day a person with a clean record is startled by police and ends up dead.

Annistine Patrick, an East End activist, said the community can't have it both ways, though. Police are worried about being killed, too. If you're not doing anything, don't worry about being stopped, she says. Community frustration is valid, but it is a minor inconvenience compared to the alternative.

"For so long our area has been bad," she said. "It got to the point where Meals on Wheels couldn't come to the community. Now we have a police chief who is trying to help us have a better quality of life."

Still, she's critical too.

"Our officers need to be retrained," she continued. "They need to learn how to approach the criminal element and let the people come out of the car and come back to them. The California officers don't run up to the cars because those gangbangers will shoot to kill."

I asked Fox about these concerns. He was particularly surprised people view police as an occupying force.

"I've been hearing a number of positive comments from the people down there," he said. "I've been attending a number of community meetings and been hearing about the constant fear of gunfire."

The incident, one of two police shootings in Newport News last weekend, is being investigated internally and by the commonwealth's attorney's office. That's standard procedure.

"It's not normal for police officers to go out and kill people," Fox said. "When you pull your weapon, that's deadly force, the highest level. Our officers are trained to only use deadly force when a life is in danger. That's the last resort. That officer almost lost his leg."

Fox acknowledged that innocent people may get stopped in the process, but that's not the intent. He invites anyone to discuss his or her concerns with him.

"We're going in to stop the criminal activity," he said. "It's just not in one district. It's in the central and northern parts as well."

In the East End, and other predominantly black areas, the jury is still out.

Wil LaVeist can be reached at 247- 7840 or by e-mail at wlaveist@dailypress.com. *